Rockets summary: Team needs to maintain high level of play

Though there was no disputing the difficulty of facing the Lakers on Friday at Staples Center, Rockets forward Luis Scola said the challenge is not to play at another level.

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Tonight: Rockets at L.A. Lakers

When/where: 9:30 p.m.; Staples Center.

TV/radio: FSH, NBA TV; 610 AM, 96.5 FM, 850 AM.

Players to watch: Rockets C Marcus Camby. He has averaged 9.4 rebounds in the last five games but will primarily be responsible for controlling Andrew Bynum. Lakers C Andrew Bynum. He had his first career 20-20 game (21 points, 22 boards) against the Rockets in January. He was questionable Wednesday with a sprained ankle but scored 39 points in 39 minutes vs. the Clippers.

Rockets (28-25) update: They have been off since upsetting the Bulls in Chicago on Monday but are 9-17 on the road, 5-13 against Western Conference teams. They have split their two meetings with the Lakers this season.

Lakers (34-20) update: The Lakers are 23-5 at home this season, not including two wins against the Clippers (home team) at Staples Center. They have won their last four games and five of six to move to third in the Western Conference. Kobe Bryant averaged 33 points in the previous two games with the Rockets this season but was 10-of-27 from the field in the last meeting March 20.

By the numbers: 8 - 40-point games for Kobe Bryant against the Rockets, the most for any NBA player. He topped 50 in three of those games.

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He cited road wins over Chicago, San Antonio, Denver and Oklahoma City as examples of the Rockets playing on that level and said the trick is to stay there.

"They have two or three superstars, which is two or three more than we do," Scola said. "I think we have done a good job playing good games. We need to find a way to be the team we want to be, the team that won those games."

Boykins signs 10-day contract

The Rockets on Thursday signed 5-5 guard Earl Boykins to a second 10-day contract, keeping him with the team for five more games.

The Rockets could have signed Boykins, 35, for the remainder of the season, but customarily they attach an additional non-guaranteed season to those contracts.

An offer like that likely would not have worked as well for a veteran more likely to seek a guaranteed deal before committing to go to camp.

The Rockets also sent 5-11 guard Courtney Fortson, 23, to the NBA Development League.

Jonathan Feigen has been the Rockets beat writer since 1998 and a basketball nut since before Willis Reed limped out for Game 7. He became a sports writer because the reporter that was supposed to cover the University of Delaware basketball team decided to instead play one more season of college lacrosse and has never looked back.

Feigen, who has won APSE, APME and United States Basketball Writers Association awards from El Campo to Houston, came to Texas in 1981 to cover the Rice Birds, was Sports Editor in Garland before moving to Dallas to cover everything from the final hurrah of the Southwest Conference to SMU after the death penalty.

After joining the Houston Chronicle in 1990, Feigen has covered the demise of the SWC, the rise of the Big 12 and the Rockets at their championship best.